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Back in 2012 I started reading Amazing Spider-Man properly read since I went to a college that was near a couple of comic book stores and one of the first stories I enjoyed reading was ends of the Earth since that it looked interesting for the cover. Spidey being bound with Doc Ock’s robotic tentacles and being held across the Earth and when I read the beginning page, I was interested even more for the fact that, Doctor Octopus was dying and that this was going to be his possible magnum opus.

The story begins with Spidey narrating about how it can be difficult to tell the difference between who are the good guy and the bad guy, in which we see Equinox a villain who has the powers of both Human Torch and Iceman all-in-one attacking firefighters and setting a building on fire. Spidey sees what is happening and he intervenes by hurling ‘Spider-Grenades’ whilst flying on a ‘Spider-Glider’. It turns out that the grenades are filled with a retardant gel that manages to encase him in a cocoon of some description. But during the firefighters trying to rescue one of their own, his foot snaps off, but the paramedics manage to arrive and preserve the foot in a box and Spidey helps the paramedics get to the hospital faster. At the hospital, the doctor tells Spidey that they will be able to reattach the foot thanks to the person who created the Cryo-Cubes since that they have been a help storing limbs and organs and he is taken back by this since that it was Peter he who had created the tech and then we see a few panels of the other tech that he has created over the past few issues. But he then brings up some other tech that he has his hands on, that being something to take down the Sinister Six.

In Horizon Labs, it turns out that Mayor Jameson wants to shut down the building with Jonah calling Max Modell a menace saying that he is also keeping tech could control and contain Spider-Man and that he wouldn’t turn it over. However, Hector Baez, who is their legal counsel says that they had destroyed the jammers so that they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands. Jonah then brings up that the jammers also created a 50ft Spider Creature in Manhattan during the events of Spider-Island, also them creating a time machine that created an alternate future that destroyed New York and that they have a monster working for them, that being Morbius the Living Vampire. Jonah then leaves and Max tells them that the can all go back to work.

At a hidden location underwater, Doc Ock announces to the Sinister Six, this incarnation made up of himself, Sandman, Chameleon, Mysterio, Electro and Rhino, that he is going to start his plan since that it is revealed that the X-Men, Defenders and Fantastic Four are either off world or in a different dimension. Chameleon asks him what about the Avengers and he says that he has studied them and has come up with countermeasures that he plans to use on them. He activates is ‘Octahedral’ and activates his plan, a network of satellites that have created a field around the Earth causing the Sun’s rays to be intensified across North and South America. Doc Ock spouts his reasoning for what he is doing, but MJ and Peter also notice this and Peter seems rather annoyed that even with the tech that he has created that it seems that Ock is a few steps ahead. He tells the world what he is doing, that being using his Octavian Lens can counteract the effects of global warming and thus help preserve the planet. He then says that he is sensing copies of his equations to people around the globe and he only wants to be able to be remembered for one thing, being able to save the Earth.

Back in New York, Peter motions to MJ that he is going off to deal with Ock and she tells him not to screw it up. He heads back to Horizon Labs and takes out of storage the parts he was working on to take down the Sinister Six but he gets interrupted by Max Modell. He asks what he is doing with the equipment and he says that he is running some tests with it, but Max has an inkling that the tech is for Spidey to deal with the problem that is occurring. Peter tells him that it is and Max wishes him luck with helping Spidey. We then cut over to Peter putting on a new costume but just small panels showing what it looks like. Over at the Avengers Mansion, the Avengers talk over the Ock’s plan with Iron Man saying that the math is right, but there seems to be a rather mix with the rest of the Avengers. But Spider-Man walks in saying that it’s time for them to act and says Avenger’s Assemble, revealing the new costume which seems to resemble armour and it looks amazing, ending part one.

Part two begins as a flashback two weeks prior to the Doc Ock’s plan where he sent out Chameleon, Sandman, Rhino and Electro out to recover countermeasures for the Avengers from different parts of the world. Chameleon gets an old set of Iron Man’s armour, Sandman and Rhino retrieves a prototype device that the Leader had created to use against a Hulk and Electro gets the Fang of Jormungandr to use on Thor. Back in the present, an emergency G8 summit is on with world leaders and some of the worlds smartest people to go over the science behind Doc Ock’s latest invention with even Professor Stephen Hawking saying that the science is sound and if they help him launch more of his satellites it could end the threat of global warming. Former Vice President Gore takes the floor to talk but he is then interrupted by Spider-Man along with Captain America and Thor where he says what they are doing is completely insane since that they forget that Doc Ock is a psychopath that uses giant octopi. Gore asks why they are there and Thor says that he is here representing Asgard in these matters and that Spider-Man is in his council. Spidey continues saying that Ock is a mad scientist and that they are just helping him build his weapon that could be a doomsday device. Gore responds saying that he sees that this is a way to end global warming and sees that there are no other worries that counteract this decision and then Spidey punches him in the face, shocking a few world leaders in the process.

Spidey then reveals that Gore was in fact the Chameleon in disguise and Cap asks how he knew that it was Chameleon and he replies that it was an idea that he borrowed from Daredevil and set up an audio system keyed to recognise his specific heartbeat. Ock then chimes in from his Octahedral where he apologies for his deception, and says that due to Spider-Man’s interference he plans on taking drastic measures, this being using his satellites to teach them all a final lesson. Spidey contacts Iron Man saying that Ock had taken the bait and Iron Man says that he can try and backtrack the signal but the satellites start to change frequency’s and he says that it could be very bad. Horizon Labs starts a teleconference with the summit and they say that they may have some information regarding the energy signature off tech that they had developed for their old Space Station. However, it isn’t known if they had got the rest of the information as all their power goes out with Max thinking that Doc Ock may have set off an EMP and tells them all to go outside. But it turns out that it wasn’t the evil Doc Ock that did this but the evil Mayor Jameson who had cut off all the power to Horizon Labs because he wants to protect New York from scientists, even though New York had been attacked a few hundred times by different villains (plus that time when Jameson got turned into a Spider), and he says that he only care about making New York safe and the rest of the world can fend for itself.

Back at the summit, Iron Man informs Spidey that he has good and bad news, the stealth technology that he is using is revolutionary, but he can’t track where his base is at. To top off on the bad news even more is that the new shield that is in place in the upper atmosphere is having a different effect and he says that it could change everything. The leaders are getting news in about all the new information and it doesn’t look good for Spidey, the Ock chimes in saying that he could have turned up the heat again but this time he decided to give them the carrot instead since that he still wants to have some good come with his name and gives them a 24-hour ultimatum or it’s the stick again and he also asks for the release of the Chameleon. The summit releases Chameleon and Spidey is annoyed at this but this seems that it could also be part of a back-up plan.

An hour later the Sinister Six meet up along the Mediterranean Coast with most of the team in a one of Ock’s robots and Chameleon questions why they are meeting here and Sandman says that they would like to keep their secret base a secret and Mysterio says that he has a kick me sign on his back, and Chameleon realises he has a tracer on his back and the Avengers followed him to the rendezvous. Inside the Quinjet, Widow tells them that they have been spotted and Spidey tells them that the plan is to overwhelm them since that they have the numbers advantage and Red Hulk likes this plan. Sandman tells them that he sees seven of them and but Otto reassures them that they can’t lose since that this is their day, the day the Sinister Six reign supreme and we get an awesome two-page spread of the Avengers descending on the Sinister Six.

Red Hulk goes after the robot whilst the rest go after the remaining members. Hawkeye shoots a net arrow at Mysterio but it looks like, to him, that it didn’t work as it dissolves into what looks like candy. Hawkeye seems shocked at this but Spidey reassures him that it worked since that his helmet can filter out Mysterio’s tricks. Electro manages to take out the Quinjet possibly even taking out Widow. He manages to knock down Hawkeye and Spider-Woman, but when he tries to mow through Spidey, it fails and Electro goes out of his electric form and reminds Electro that he has brought a God with him and Thor manages to absorb him into his hammer and casts him out somewhere. Thor says that Electro will no longer bother Midgard but Rhino comes up behind him and stabs him with the tooth from the Midgard Serpent. Iron Man says that he’ll help Thor after he has dealt with Ock, however Ock has his own tricks by being able to shut down his suit with the help of future Starktech. Cap and Sandman fight it out with Cap trying to convince him on returning to the Avengers, but he isn’t paying attention to his request and takes him out with sand. He then throws a cryo-cube at Cap freezing him in ice. Red Hulk then gets taken out with a blast from an Alpha/Gamma Disruptor which can shut down the brain activity of Gamma-irradiated creatures. Spidey is the last Avenger standing, but not for long as he tries to use Ock’s tech against him but Ock has upgraded himself shocking Spidey into defeat and the Sinister Six standing triumphant ending part two.

I have really liked this story and I will be back at a later date to continue the story.

Previously in The Dark Knight III, Batman had returned after years of absence but it turned out that Carrie Kelley was the Batman. Lara and Wonder Woman were disagreeing about where Lara should be. Ray Palmer ended up releasing the residence of the bottled city of Kandor, but it turns out that it was all a trap where a Kryptonian cult killed the residence and then shrank Palmer and is presumed dead. But it turned out that at the end of issue 2, Bruce Wayne was still alive.

The issue opens with Bruce walking into a room narrating about Carrie, and shows that he cares about her. We then continue more narration but also being cut in with clips with news articles of incidents happening over world with the possible invasion from the Kryptonians. Carrie asks if that these attacks mean that if he was no longer dead, and he replies that he doesn’t know since that he doesn’t know what kind of ‘horror’ this is yet. We then get a video of Quar preaching that the Earth is over their end of depression and he then breaks the back of what appears to be a reporter or just a random person and he falls from the sky. Quar then preaches about what happened to Krypton and says that his group was like a dandelion and he then gives one of his ‘children’ a seed that he ingests and the child then divebombs towards the Kremlin and he blows up into what appears to be nuclear explosion. Quar then preaches more about what his children can do and he wants the people of Earth to bow to them as New Gods. In the Batcave, Bruce says that they can’t do this alone and we continue to a two-page spread with panels of news talking about what the Kryptonians had did and how people are dealing with it. But we also get a portion of Bruce and Carrie walking through the snow heading towards the Fortress of Solitude.

Inside the Fortress, Bruce tells Carrie on why Superman is in this state saying that he gave up after the battle with Brainiac and the near destruction of the planet and Bruce whacks the Superman popsicle with a hammer. Bruce then tells Superman that he needs his help since that he is in barley and condition to fight and that the world needs his help. But there is still no reaction from the popsicle. Carrie then chimes in saying that they are wasting their time with him and says that his people are about to enslave the Earth and Carrie goes to leave where we then see crack wound effects and Superman is out of the ice asking about his people and Bruce goes on to show what they were doing.

The micro issue for this is about Green Lantern where we first see him in this weird alien design finding out that that Earth needs his help. We then see Quar wives talking around the Sphinx and Hal appears before them. The wives wonder why he is there and then realise that he is a Lantern and they start coming on to him and manage to trick him into using he ring hand and then one of them blasts off Hal’s hand and takes hand and runs off leaving Hal in the desert.

Back is some city, possibly Gotham, Quar’s children are talking about making the people worship them. Bruce and Carrie are heading back and Bruce notes what Carrie did with Superman making him break out of his popsicle but she isn’t taking credit for it. Some of Quar’s children then head into space and take out satellites. Lara sees Gotham starting in flames and Baal asks if she is not afraid, but she replies saying that she is more curious about Kandor and not afraid. Quar appears and says that his son wasn’t talking about Kandor but of her. Baal says that she is afraid of herself and that she shouldn’t hold herself to her own rules and Quar pretty much starts to brainwash her. We then get a page of Superman falling to his knees with tears in his laser firing eyes.

We then cut over to an emergency meeting with heads of different countries and there deciding whether to start a war with the Kryptoinans but they are undecided but Bruce has his army assembled in the Batcave where he says that he is too easy. Carrie questions it and Bruce replies saying phony bosses will react before they do but there is a new piece that they see that there could be a chance that the world could see a global surrender. Quar and his followers break into the UN meeting in the Pentagon where he wants to get his answer from the world but that gets interrupted by Batman appearing on a screen where he tells him to go to hell with all the screens repeating him saying hell. Quar questions him and Superman appears telling them that ‘you heard them’. Quar then rants a bit about that how he would spend ‘thousands of centuries in thousand hells than be trapped in the glass cage’. He then spits at him and says that he need to be punished. Superman then notices something behind him when a voice says that he is a traitor to his race where it is revealed to be Lara, ending the issue.

Issue four opens with Ray Palmer not dead and apparently at some sort of possible sub-atomic level. Back in Washington, he tells Lara that she is making a mistake and tells her that the world needs protecting but Quar asks her if she agrees with him. She does agree that the world is beautiful but that the ‘ants’ that run it are destroying it. 0ne of Quar followers or possibly Quar asks Superman why he would allow people to do this and he says that he refuses to put himself above humanity and then Lara blasts him through the Washington Memorial. Lara asks him to make a choice but he replies saying that he won’t hit her back, so she whacks him straight into the Lincoln Memorial. Lara keeps asking him to make his decision but Baal tells her that he has already made his decision.

In the Batcave Carrie is having enough of this and suggest that they go help him, but Bruce says that they can’t but suggests that there is one person that can help but they won’t and we find out that Lara beat up Superman for hours, ending it at the Fortress of Solitude where we see a blood trail leading to the door. Superman heads back to the Fortress and we see Quar’s cult following him there where he yells out to Earth that their champion has fallen and puts him on trial for treason. Superman tries to plead to Lara but she just stares at him and the cultists give their passing of the guilty verdict and Quar encases him in Black Matter and they blast the Fortress with their eye-beams. Quar then says that he is going to move onto Gotham and that if Batman doesn’t surrender in 36 hours he would kill them. In the Jungle, we back with Wonder Woman saying that they made her decision and that she doesn’t agree with then and that she doesn’t agree with Bruce and destroys the communicator that Bruce gave her.

In the micro-issue this revolves around Carrie now under the mantle of Batgirl and is basically covering the fallout about the civilians wanting to Batman to submit to the Kryptonians. But the cool thing that did come from this was Carrie throwing a device into the sea and it summons Aquaman on a large Hammerhead Shark and he tells her to get on.

Back on Gotham City Hall, a protest is breaking out with the citizens wanting Batman to surrender. In Commissioner Yindel’s office she monologues off about what has been happening, first that it has been over seven hours since that the power grid went down, she got a bottle of booze and that she realises that now the GCPD is useless and that it took Gotham City twelve hours to realise it. Back in the Batcave Carrie is injecting something into Bruce to help him get around and Bruce gives Carrie a mission. This happens in the micro-issue and he gives her a graduation present, which we also see in the micro-issue. We the see some of the news talking about what happening in Gotham and we also see Flash running in to help but he then gets his legs broken by somebody but he is then rescued by one of Batman’s army. On top of the GCPD, Yindel talks about the people being like ants and other things but Batman appears behind her and gives her the opportunity to do the right thing. The issue ends back with Ray Palmer saying that ‘maybe he can fix this’.

I think that these issues have been rather well done. Having Carrie be the one that helps snap Superman out of his disappointment slump was good and the whole brainwashing that has been done to Lara is rather interesting. But we are only halfway through the series and I think this is the point on where it starts to go a bit sideways.

Previously in the Justice League/Power Rangers comic. Lord Zedd attacks the Command Centre and Zack manages to hold him off by teleporting them through a damaged teleporter. This leads Zack to wind up on the DC Universe where Zack is confronted by Batman, which Zack thinks is Lord Zedd’s monster. This then leads the Rangers to come in for back up to help Zack but Batman has the Justice League to call on. This then calms down when the two sides start to talk things out. We then find out what happened to Zedd and that he then aligns himself with Brainiac when he gives him a proposition to take cities in the Power Ranger universe and they also manage to get the Zords away from the Rangers to do this and it also leaves the Rangers stranded in the DC Universe. The Rangers and the League then head to Switzerland to get help from CERN to open a wormhole to take them back to their dimension.

The issue opens with Billy and Cyborg going over the calculations to see if their plan can work and Zack asking Kim for an update. She says that she doesn’t understand it much but that they are making progress. Zack seems to be rather worried about what Zedd and Brainiac could be doing on Earth and that before they headed here he got into a fight with his parents and he hopes that he wants to fix that. Billy and Cyborg finally finish their equations and say that they can create a hole but it would be random where it would take them. One of the scientists then say that if they have a link to their world they can fix where they will go and Tommy has the answer, that being he still has his Dragon Dagger. Billy then brings up that they can’t activate the rift underground since that it could have a fatal collapse if an accident was to happen. Wonder Woman suggest that they should move the Hadron Collider elsewhere and the scientist says that they can’t just move it and that it is seventeen miles long. Wonder Woman says that they will be careful and that he and Superman will lift it with Green Lantern can hold it in place. Green Lantern manages to hold the Collider and Wonder Woman and Superman start pushing it into SPACE.

In the Javelin, Tommy hands the Dragon Dagger to Green Lantern who places it in the middle of the Collider to act as an anchor and they all head into the portal, hoping that they can survive the trip. They manage to arrive back in the Power Ranger’s universe and we see that Brainiac has already started the process of converting Angel Grove into a bottled city. The League tells the Rangers that they can’t do anything now and just wait, but Zack heads off to the dome to see if there is anything that he can do and he manages to see his parents. He tries to apologise from what happened that morning but they couldn’t hear him and the city gets transformed and we see where the events from issue one start to take place. The Rangers are devastated to see their home being taken away from them and Superman tries to comfort Zack saying that he knows what he feels as his own home was destroyed and a city taken by Brainiac. Superman says that the bottled city will be on Brainiac’s ship and it is also located in low orbit. The Rangers want to get up there but Cyborg first objects saying that they are powerless, since they no longer have their coins, but Batman says that they are not. He then says that once that he takes a city he then destroys the planet and that they don’t have long to rescue them.

Wonder Woman then says that they will need to create two teams, one team to attack Brainiac’s ship and the second team to do defence on Earth, Batman agrees with this and says that he brought somethings to help from the trophy room in the Tower. Jason gets the sword of Azrael, Zack gets an axe and Kim gets Green Arrow’s bow. But not only do they get weapons but they also borrowed costumes as well from other characters from DC with Red Hood, Lex’s armour, Katana, Hawkgirl, Prometheus and I think Black Lightning. Batman leads the attack force on the Brainiac’s ship and Wonder Woman is leading the defence on Earth and Superman says that he is going to be the distraction by attacking the ship.

The attack force of Batman, Cyborg, Zack, Trini and Billy board onto the ship and Billy finds a console for Cyborg to interface with and he manages to find their Power Coins. Cyborg calls in Superman to retrieve the Coins where he manages to do it with ease and Zack starts to morph when he gets blasted, by Cyborg. More correctly Cyborg being infected by Brainiac and he then blasts Batman. Billy then morphs and tries to tell Cyborg to fight the control but Brainiac’s influence seems to be stronger and Billy, apologising, stabs his staff through Cyborg ending the issue.

This seemed to be an alright issue, seeing the Rangers at a bit of a low point not knowing what is happening to their world and also giving a reason what happened during the beginning of issue one, which I really had no clue in what happened then. Hopefully with two issues left the story continues to be interesting.

Back when Rebirth started over a year ago, the original Wally West returned to the DC Universe after been mysteriously taken away after the Flashpoint event. When he returned, he brought back a mysterious ‘Button’ with him and gave it to Barry and since then he and Batman have spent their time trying to find out what it means.

Part one begins in Batman #21 with the issue starting out in Arkham Asylum as some of the inmates are watching a hockey game and Saturn Girl, who has been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum since the beginning of Rebirth, says that ‘they’re going to kill him’ and ‘Superman won’t come. Our friends will die. The Legion will die’, this could be leading to things that could be happening later in this book or more likely for the Superman books.

In the Batcave, Batman has images of the ‘Button’ over several screens as well as watching the hockey game that is going on. We then get a two-page spread of 18 panels where it cuts between Batman playing with the button in his fingers and the fight that is happening at the hockey game. We get then another two-page with the same number of panels but in this Batman throws the button on the table where he also has Psycho-Pirates mask and a small spark comes off the button and hits the mask and it then a lightning bolt hits Batman knocking him back. Batman then sees an image of his Flashpoint counterpart, who is Thomas Wayne, in that universe. He then contacts Flash and tells him what had just happened and says that he will be there in a minute since that he is dealing with a Samuriod Invasion.

Batman notice a blur and believed that it was Flash but he is wrong and we then get another two-page spread where we see Reverse Flash, Thawne, punching Batman. Thawne then exposits about himself and that a power had called out to him and he was resurrected. Batman goes to punch Thawne but he vibrates out of the way and beats up Batman. HE knocks him around for a few seconds but Thawne’s attention gets drawn away when he notices something, the letter that Thomas Wayne gave to Barry to give to Bruce, and he destroys it inform of him. Batman tells him to get out of his cave but Thawne says that he can’t throw him out since that when he can blur nobody can touch him. But during that time Batman jabs a Batarang in his foot and has him anchored into place and starts punching him. Thawne manages to knock Batman backwards and manages to get free of the Batarang and he tells Batman that he can’t win, but Batman knows that and all he has to do is wait eleven seconds. They exchange punches more and the eleven seconds go by and Thawne punches Batman again. Thawne picks up the Button and teleports away and then is immediately teleported back where it looks like that he has been attacked by something and just he just says ‘I saw God’.

Flash arrives at the Batcave and apologises for being late where he said that he stops off at the hockey match to see if he could have saved the guy but it was too late. And the issue ends with Batman being beaten up and Thawne’s skeletal body.

Part two starts continues in Flash #21. It opens with the another returning character from the Rebirth issue with Johnny Thunder on the rooftop asking where ‘Thunderbolt’ is and he is then dragged back into the hospital/facility by orderlies. We then get back to the story with Flash setting up a crime scene in the Batcave in a two-spread cutting with narration as well as black silhouetted images of Thawne punching Batman. Barry then give some background information for the readers about Eobard Thawne and notes that the person that killed his mother is dead. Flash then explains about how the Speed Force works with different with him and Thawne but the energy that was covered with Thawne wasn’t his own, but with his energy wave and questions if that in the future if he kills Thawne.

Barry runs over to Alfred and asks him if he has had any luck, but he replies that all of the Batcave’s surveillance equipment was damaged and Barry believes that it was due to Thawne’s lightning. Barry questions Bruce on what happened and beings up more information about Thawne including that he may have been killed during travelling through time and space and wonders if he was forced back to the cave. Bruce brings up some questions of his own and Barry answers them truthfully Bruce then brings up that they have had no luck identifying the blood with the different agencies that they have at hand.

Barry brings up of what Bruce saw in the previous issue and he says that it was a ghost but then says that it was his father and he was wearing the cape and cowl. Barry then brings up that it sounds like that he was describing the Flashpoint Batman. Bruce brings up that he felt the same thing as a child when he was with his father with the way that he could carry himself and that they also had the same voice. Barry apologises for this since that Flashpoint was his fault and that it left them vulnerable to the changes that have happened. Bruce tells Barry that this isn’t his fault and that this was going a lot longer than Flashpoint and that there has to be something that they have been missing during their investigation. Barry brings up that there is something that is missing and that is the Button that Thawne took with him, it wasn’t on his body. Bruce brings up that Thawne being drawn to it wasn’t a coincidence. Barry then brings up that with Bruce seeing the ghostly image of Flashpoint Batman he had also been seeing images of Thawne but also saw an image of the Helmet of Mercury, worn by Jay Garrick the Golden Age Flash.

Barry heads out if he finds anymore updates for Bruce but instead he decides to go to The Watchtower instead where we see the Lost and Found that houses the secured artefacts that the League have collected, which seems to have the Beetle that Ted Kord uses in the Blue Beetle series and also what appears to be Martian Manhunters costume. Barry goes on to say that he wishes that he put the Button here when it showed up. We then get a flashback from when Wally returned where he says that when he was outside time he felt a presence and he tried to see what it was but he couldn’t, but he then says that they are waiting to attack for some reason. Barry then narrates more saying that the force that was more powerful than Darkseid was watching them so Barry decides to use his Cosmic Treadmill. Barry plans on using it to follow the radiation that is on the Button but does have some worries about using it since that the last time he used it, he created the Flashpoint timeline.

But before he can do that he is interrupted by Batman who wants to come along with Barry since that it is still also his case. But Barry is concerned for him since that there is a lot of strange things when travelling through the Cosmic Treadmill but Batman says that he is aware of the dangers as he has also travelled through time before. They start travelling throughout time, with Batman attached with a Batclaw, and they start noticing points in alternate timeline with the formation of the Justice League but Flash brings up that he thinks that the images that they are seeing ARE from their timeline. A time-storm appears and Flash starts running faster but they still get hit and are sent into a different timeline.

The two land in a new timeline inside a cave and the Cosmic Treadmill is destroyed. But Batman notices something familiar about the cave, that being it looks like the Batcave. Flash tries to tell Batman about where they are but he gets cut off when he notices a gun in a case. He then asks Barry where they are but instead of Barry responding we get Thomas Wayne. We end on a page of both Batmen and the tears forming in his eyes being able to spend one more moment with his father.

Part three continues in Batman #22. The issue opens up with this time focusing around the Flashpoint timeline with Thomas Wayne’s Batman narrating basically covering what happened in Flashpoint. But since that this universe was meant to disappear when Barry returned to create the New 52 timelines, he came to the assumption that someone had kept their universe on Life support. He then notes that the war between Wonder Woman and Aquaman has still been raging but they had a truce going on as they send their soldiers to take him out. But as he is doing this it then leads him to see Flash and Batman crash into his cave during the end of the last issue. Dr Wayne asks Flash what is going on since that he thinks that having Bruce here is a trick or cruel joke. But Flash says that this isn’t a trick but he grabs Flash by the throat and tries to punch him.

Flash explains to Dr Wayne on what has happened and he too has come to the belief that somebody is behind Flashpoint being still intact. Flash then finds something more distressing and that is that doing a vibration of this Earth it turns out that it is the same timeline that they had come from. Dr Wayne asks Bruce why he won’t look at him but Flash intervenes saying that he needs a minute to re-build the Cosmic Treadmill but Dr Wayne brings up a small problem, that being Aquaman and Wonder Woman’s soldiers are here. Dr Wayne tells them that he is going to hold them off with a gun, but Bruce knocks the gun out of his hand and says that they are all leaving together and asks is he has any precautions but he responds saying that that his mother was the one that thought ahead so they decide to use fists instead. Bruce then brings up the letter that Barry gave him and the end of Flashpoint and says that he has a lot of questions for him and Dr Wayne too has questions.

We then get a two-page spread with the Batmen fighting against the warriors and Barry finishes building the treadmill. Batman beats up the final warrior and Dr Wayne asks if he remembers what he said when he fell down the into the cave as a child and he remembers since that he was whispering so that it didn’t want to scare the bats. The next page we see something similar to the destructions of the multiverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flash realises what is going on. Batman tells Dr Wayne that the letter that he got was the best thing that he had ever got and that he even tells him that he is a Grandfather. Flash warns Batman that the Treadmill is at full power but Batman wants Dr Wayne to come with him, but he pushes Batman onto the Treadmill and Dr Wayne tells Flash to save his son but they both plead for him to join them as the light eclipses Wayne Manor. Dr Wayne delivers a speech basically summed up for Bruce to leave the mantle of Batman and let it die with him. The treadmill disappears and we see the light now eclipsing the Batcave and Dr Wayne running straight to it.

Back in the Cosmic Timestream Batman asks if there is a way back but Flash says that there is no way back to that universe. Barry then says that he doesn’t know why the Button’s trail lead them there but all he knows is that they need to keep on moving. Batman brings up that the Button appeared in his cave and brought his father to him as well as wondering who sent it and why they sent them to the Flashpoint Universe. Flash then says that he doesn’t know but that Wally told him that somebody had stolen time from them to hurt them and that they sent them to the Flashpoint Universe to hurt them even more. But before Flash can continue Thawne speeds past them and Flash seems surprised but Batman notes that Thawne still has the Button so that this is Thawne before he dies. Barry tells him to stop and that if he doesn’t he will die. However, Thawne doesn’t stop and he now knows who the power of the Button belongs to and it ends with him saying ‘They’ve never faced someone like me’ ending the issue.

Part four continues in Flash #22. The issue starts off with Flash and Batman chasing down Reverse Flash whilst a mysterious person narrates on watching what is happening and hopes that Barry can save them like what he did with Wally. Flash tells Thawne to stop but he ignores him and heads forwards from them. Thawne then says that he is going to do something more worse to Barry bit Batman tells him that he can hear somebody call Flash’s name but Barry passes it off as just the Speed Force distracting, but Batman says that the vision of his father was real. Thawne then intervenes saying that he has a new plan and that was that he is going to make Barry his son. But then something happens and then the Cosmic Treadmill starts breaking up and Batman tells him that they need to land somewhere. Flash tries to get Thawne but a rip opens and Thawne arrives in a new reality.

Thawne calls out the entity that drew him there and says that he cannot be erased by anyone, but then the figure appears and starts to attack Thawne causing what happened to him in the events of Batman #21. Back to Batman and Flash they are slightly adrift in the Speed Force and Flash can’t speed up, but Batman tells him to listen to the voice. Flash seems hesitant about it since that he doesn’t know where it can take them but Batman says that they have no other choice. The voice then says that his name is Jay and a large sound happens where the voice narrates ‘at last, I’m free’ and we see jay Garrick return and he manages to rescue Batman and Flash from the Speed Force.

They arrive back on their Earth and Flash asks if Jay was the one that killed Thawne but Jay says that he didn’t and reiterates his name and that he is a friend of Barry’s. Flash questions him and Jay replies saying that they had took everything from and that he doesn’t know how or why they did it and he tries to get Barry to remember his name. But unfortunately, Jay disappears in a blue light with Batman saying that he is not here.

They then head to a graveyard with Bruce talking about how that Barry was the only other person that he knows that has suffered losses the same way he has. Barry then brings up if that this whole problem was a plan of Thawne’s by creating time ruptures and having people taken out of realities. But Bruce brings up that he is dead but Barry brings up that maybe his death was the start of it. But even though that Thawne is dead, it does mean that the case is still open and that they are still going to be pursuing it. Barry says that he is going to do another autopsy on Thawne to try and find more evidence and Bruce brings up that what has happened to them can’t have been an accident.

Later that night Bruce is staring out of the window where the Bat-Signal appears but he seems to be more distracted about the words that his father said to him and it seems that he doesn’t want to answer the call. Back to the different world, we see The Button being picked up by a mysterious figure who starts narrating about why his ‘perception of time distress them’ and finishes saying that ‘we’re all puppets Laurie’ and that ‘he is a puppet that can see the strings’. The issue ends with an epilogue that features the button with it slowly being zoomed in but then when we zoom out and see Superman’s symbol and ends with a quote: there are poisons that blind you and poisons that can open your eye’s- August Strindberg. This then teases the possible next part of the story: Doomsday Clock that happens this November.

Overall I like this four-part series. I like that we finally got a bit more story from the events of the Rebirth one-shot and building more of the Watchmen being incorporated into the DCU. I am looking forward to see what happens in the Doomsday Clock and I think that I may pick up the first issue up when it comes out.

Continuing off from a blog I did a few months ago we head back into the Edge of Spider-Verse and heading into the universe where Aaron Aikman is our Spider-Man.

The issue opens with the backstory of Aaron and how he became Spider-Man and in this universe, he is a molecular biologist who also branches into bioengineering and molecular chemistry and in secrecy he experimented on himself by cloning a Spider’s genes into his own genes and became Spider-Man. A cool part of this story of this story is that they give a backstory to his suit but also his villains, including one called Redeye. But the introduction to the main story opens with the introduction to Spider-Man’s latest villain called Naamurah.

Aaron is in his lab late at night working on a new batch of webbing to make it stronger the next time that he faces off against her. We are then introduced to the other main character of the issue Doctor Kaori Ikegami who is Aaron’s boss and we get a text dump about her. But the most important that we get is that it turns out that seven years ago her daughter, Hannah, was hit by a car and that she has been for the past ten years and during that time Aaron was supportive to her that they are to believe to be in a relationship. But then one day Kaori changed and she moved her daughter to a separate facility.

Aaron then spent time to devote to his time to find out who Naamurah is and he came up with a cunning plan to stop the nightmare but that gets put on hold for a bit when he gets a knock at the door where Kaori appears. And then she kisses him. She asks him to run away with her but he turns her down saying that he had to catch a redeye but she then changes her mood and then goes off on him saying that he doesn’t care about Hannah. He retorts saying that she didn’t want him to be involved with her daughter and then asks her if she is dead and Kaori flees his apartment. On the street, he thinks to himself that Spider-Man is going to attack tonight.

We then get a two-page spread of Spider-Man, mid-flight, and runs for a search to find where Naamurah and manages to save the victim. But during saving Naamurah manages to get the drop on him but she gets wrapped up in webbing. But when he finds out that the person that he has caught isn’t actually another person called Daarroh, and it turns out that Spider-Man knows who the person and that’s being a victim of Naamurah. Spider-Man then takes Daarroh to the research facility that he works at and it is revealed that the suit that he was something that seemed to be keeping the patient alive. Aaron asks if they still have the robotic suit and the doctor there says that they do as the police are picking it up in the morning. But since their expert in robotics is unavailable but it turns out that he is more help since that a part of the robot suit that was taken off the patient was a bio-engineered neural interface that Aaron had designed, to help Hannah.

In a workshop, Spider-Man confronts Kaori on where Hannah is where she replies that she isn’t there and that she is gone. She asks Aaron, not Spider-Man, to not hurt her for what she has done, but he interrupts her asking her about the neural interface, who Naamurah is and where Hannah is. So, she then tells him the truth and that is she was successful with getting her daughter out of the coma but then something bad starts to happen. She starts to hallucinate that she can see somebody and that she ended up turning into Naamurah. She then tells him that she was forced to build more of suits for people and that she had turned them all into walking machines.

Spider-Man runs out of the room to try and do something and starts narrating to himself that this was his fault and that he is the only one that can save the world from this invasion. But as Spider-Man gets to the end of the corridor he is interrupted by Morlun, and it is led that he killed him and that his world is to be overrun by the walking machines created by Naamurah.

Overall this is a really good story that was made for this one shot, it gave a back story to character introducing his villains rather well.

Previously in the series, Lord Zedd tried to attack the Power Rangers but Zack manages to teleport him and Zedd out but they land in a different universe. Zack ends up meeting Batman and the rest of the Rangers arrive and they have a confrontation with the Justice League but that stops when they both realise what has happened. Meanwhile we find out that Zedd has found that he was teleported inside a Bottled City owned by Brainiac and they come up with a plan for Brainiac to get a city from Earth but not the DC Earth.

The issue opens Superman arriving in Cairo and sees one of the giant squid monsters that are attacking cities around the world. Back in Gotham with the Justice League believing that they need to split up to take down the creatures but Jason chimes in by saying that they do need to split up but stick together which confuses Flash. Jason then says that they are still connected to their teleporters in their dimension so that they will team up with each member and help them battle the monsters. Batman tells them that they won’t since that they don’t know them well to fight with and that this isn’t their Earth. The Rangers then retort that even thought that this isn’t their planet it sure is their fight since it was them who brought Zedd to this universe. Plus, they know how to take down Zedd’s creatures. Billy asks Cyborg to link into their communication systems and he does and Tommy tells Batman that they don’t have time to argue with lives at stake and that if he doesn’t want to work with them then he should stay out of their way.

Cyborg starts broadcasting a message to the Justice League reservists about the situation that is happening and we see who the reservists are. Green Arrow, Black Canary, Mera, Aquaman, Shazam and Beast Boy and Starfire from the Teen Titans. Cyborg then tells them that they will be joined at the sites by large mechanical dinosaurs and tells them who is piloting them. Cyborg then gets Batman ready to teleport to Australia but something bad happens, somebody starts to hack into the Watchtower and it took out the firewalls that Batman had in place and knocked out the teleporters. Batman asks if Zedd would be behind this but Billy tells they that Zedd would have no clue about computer systems and that it must be somebody else. Zack then tells them the fastest way that he can get Batman to Australia was for him to get into the Mastodon, which he does and when they get to Australia we see a team consisting of Supergirl, Hawkgirl, Batgirl, Kid Flash and the new Green Lantern whose name blanks me attacking a monster.

Batman asks Zack what that creature is and he replies that he has no idea. He then explains to Batman that on their universe that Zedd’s creatures are usually made the things from Earth and asks if this Earth is populated by nightmares but Batman says that this creature isn’t from their world. Wonder Woman with Kim asks if there is any advice on tackling Zedd’s monsters and she replies just to keep on the attack and then we have a three-panel page showing the Justice League and Rangers attacking the monsters. Cyborg then informs them that somethings have entered Earth orbit and sees something hitting the Tyrannosaur Zord but Superman notices something about it and that they are Brainiac Drones and we then see them entering the other Zords kick the Rangers out causing them to de-morph. Wonder Woman grabs the nose of the Pterodactyl Zord and sees something happening and tells them to get the Rangers out of their Zords and we have a splash page of the Zord in it Megazord form with Brainiac’s symbol on the front. Wonder Woman manages to get Kim out, John Steward gets Tommy out and Batman blasts his way into the Mastodon Zord.

Inside the Mastodon Zord Batman tries to pull Zack away where he asks what Batman is doing and then tells his that the drones had taken their communicators and Power Coins and saying that they were going to go to their world and we see the Zord teleporting in a green flash. Batman asks for a report and the team replies across the world hat the monsters had disintegrated, the zords had disappeared and that there were no longer any signs of the Brainiac Drones since that they were no longer in their dimension since they now have what they wanted. Back in the Watchtower, the Justice League and Rangers re-group and the Rangers seemed to be rather disappointed since that the Rangers are now stuck on this Earth and they have no way back to stop Zedd and Brainiac from attacking Earth. Superman responds to the negative of the conversation by saying that Zedd isn’t just their problem and that says that it is up to them all to stop him. But Zack is still rather pissed since that they are still trapped on this Earth and asks if any of them can travel across dimensions. Flash chimes is saying that he can travel through dimensions due to the Speed Force but since that the Rangers can’t tap into that they would most likely to be ripped apart. After this Billy comes up with an idea that being if this Earth had a Large Hadron Collider.

The Rangers and League arrive in Switzerland at the Cern Facility and Tommy asks how this plan is going to happen since that it does seem to be something of a risk and how they are going to get access. Cyborg says that somebody will have to ask really nicely and Trini questions if the League always get what they want by asking and Batman replies saying that he can’t and the design for the panel looks like that he is sad when he says it. Inside the facility and the scientists that are there are shocked to see him and the thank him for saving the planet from the creature and asks he then asks them for a favour of borrowing the Large Hadron Collider. The scientists seemed rather confused by the request and Superman responds saying that this is to help the fate of another world and shows the scientist the Rangers to help save their world. Later in the building Superman starts explaining to the scientists on how this team can perfect opening the door with Flash being a scientists and speed expert, John Steward being an architect with a ring that can construct anything, Billy being one of the smartest minds in his world, Cyborg being a supercomputer that can instantly do calculations and tests, Wonder Woman having the wisdom of Athena and Batman because he is Batman. He then sums up that he believes in them and they can get the Rangers home ending the issue.

So with this issue I found it to be another good issue and we got to see the plan that Brainiac and Zedd by taking the Power Coins and overriding the Zords to travel back to their Earth. Hopefully more story progression is going to happen in the next few issues since that there are only three issues left.

So, for some reason DC decided to give Frank Miller another stab at writing a Batman series after the stupidity of All Star Batman and Robin, but the good thing about it this time DC did something right, they also had Brain Azzarello on as well to write the book along with Miller. But let’s get on with the review.

The first issue opens with the image of the Bat-suit and a two text boxes. On one simply saying ‘a good death? There’s no such thing’ and on the other side we have a text message chat where two people are talking about how one of them saw Batman but Batman hasn’t been seen in four years. The next two pages basically cover the story on how the he saw the Bat when he was getting trying to get arrested by the cops but they don’t and he manages to get three shots of the Bat taking out the cops. We then get a two-page spread of news personalities reacting to the news about the Batman sighting. We then cut over to the GCPD where we see Commissioner Yindel being introduced to Bailey Travers who gets brought on the GCPD to handle the PR. She hands her a pre-wrote speech for her to say but she ignores it and heads outside to the press conference where reporters ask out questions to her about the return of the Batman.

Then we head over to somewhere in the Amazon Jungle where Wonder Woman is narrating about how the hunting group, I think, are afraid of what is hunting them, which is a weird centaur/minotaur creature that they can’t take down so she runs in, doing a slight Esher Girls pose, and punches it in the face. She then kills the creature and we then discover that she has had another child that she feeds, since that she confirmed that she was pregnant after her and Superman hooked up in The Dark Knight Strikes Again. She arrives back at her kingdom where she is greeted by her people and one of them says that she will take the boy, but she nearly gets killed but Wonder Woman drops the sword in her hands. She gives her son, Johnathan, to Dessa and says that she has a training schedule with Lara but she was wondered off somewhere and that place is the Fortress of Solitude.

With this comic, we also get a micro comic inside that are all one shots that tie into the story that is going on, but I do have one problem and that is the art work shifts a lot from the main book and that is because Miller is the one that draws the micro comics. The first issue is focused around The Atom where we see him fighting against a lizard, he also narrates about some stuff but for the most of it, it’s not necessary. He then comes across a door outlined in a white light and finds a shrunken guy that he can’t hear. But we then see Lara holding Kandor and he asks why she is here with it and she replies that Baal says that they are tired of being small, ending the issue. The only thing I find wrong with this is that its placed wrong in the comic and it should be put a couple of pages later.

Back to the comic itself, Lara enters the Fortress where it appears that she is talking to somebody where she goes on about how that that the artefacts and objects were important and that they meant something that defined the whole and wonders if she was part of the whole and we have a splash page of Superman sitting in a chair completely frozen. She wonders why the ‘ants’ knocked him from the sky and asks if there is anything that she can do and hears a noise coming from somewhere where she find Kandor with a message saying ‘Help Us’ and this wraps back to the Atom micro comic and this is where I think that it should have started.

When then find ourselves back in Gotham City with at the Bat-Signal with Commissioner Yindel standing in front of where we have more text boxes, this time from GX going over bits of news and then Yindel starts narrating to herself. After she is done with the narration a cop comes up and says that they have him, which then leads us to the police chasing down Batman through the streets of Gotham. Batman manages to escape to a fire escape and then drops onto the cop’s car and charges at them. We then get more fighting scenes and then a cop manages to get a lucky shot off on Batman grazing across the cowl. But then the cops use their numbers advantages and we see them with batons in hands wailing on the downed Batman. The cops stop the attack and try to cuff Batman when one of the cop’s notices something strange but Batman punches the cop in the face and takes them all down. Yindel arrives at the scene and tells Batman to freeze and Yindel notices something different about Batman then Batman tries to attack her but she manages to defend herself and cuffs Batman asking Batman where Bruce Wayne is twice and the second time revealing that Batman really is Carrie Kelly, who then says that Bruce Wayne is dead ending issue one.

Issue two opens with Carrie Kelly being put into the back of a police car saying that Bruce Wayne is dead. We then cut to nearly a month later where Yindel is talking with Carrie, known as Jane Doe since she hasn’t spoken since she was incarcerated. She basically tells her that she is going to spend a long time in prison that she would be old as Yindel when she is released and then goes to leave when she finally starts talking. Carrie says that he never recovered and recalls the events that happened after Batman got beaten up by Luthor in Strikes Again and how she spent the past three years being at his bedside until he passed away after one final conversation which is rather a sad and emotional scene in the book. Then we get back to the stupid of the book when Yindel asks what happened to the body and she replies that she ate it, but Yindel doesn’t buy the story but Carrie says that what Yindel believes in doesn’t matter.

Back over to Ray Palmer and Lara she asks him how they didn’t try re-growing Kandor before. Ray says that they did try however they thought that they had all the variables down but the results went wrong. Lara says that Superman believes that he brilliant but Ray says that she isn’t like her father and Lara questions him in which her replies saying that Superman is more human than what she is. Lara replies to that saying that was due to her being raised by Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Baal intervenes saying that she shouldn’t distract Ray from his work. Lara then hears something that turns out that Wonder Woman is calling for her and she leaves Ray and Baal talk some more.

I am going to add the micro comic at this point since that it does ruin the story telling for the next segment. This issue focus around Wonder Woman. We start this off with Lara narrating on how that she wasn’t allowed to see the whole world since that Wonder Woman kept her a secret from the outside world. We then see Wonder Woman shooting at a wooden stump and telling Lara that she is late for her lesson where she tells her that she knows. She throws Lara a staff and Lara narrates about her mother saying that she refuses to be dominated and wouldn’t have it any other way. Wonder Woman tells her that her reactions are slow and Lara pouts which she asks if she said something to make her pout. Lara replies that she finds this boring and unnecessary for her but Wonder Woman replies saying that she is wrong and that this is her life. She then throws a sword to Lara but it just goes into the ground and she goes to attack Lara who easily moves and dodges without much of a care. She asks Lara If she can feel the rush that makes her an Amazon but Lara says that she is not like her and she goes to attack her and the sword shatters with Lara saying that she is a Kryptonian and flies off.

We then cut back over to Yindel and another cop observing Carrie’s transport heading to Blackgate. Carrie narrates to herself about the route that the transport is taking her and she then starts to whistle which then causes thing to happen. The officer with Yindel notes that they are getting an infrared signature in the warehouse and Yindel orders the transport to take evasive action but it is too late and the transport is taken out by a projectile. We then see the Bat-Tank that Carrie manages to stow-away on. This then causes a chase sequence and the Bat-Tank manages to get away from the cops by ramming up the raised bridge.

Back with Ray Palmer he makes his attempt to regrow the people of Kandor and it manages to work this time. But when they are brought onto the Earth there seems to be have a lot of bloodshed. Baal introduces Ray to Quar who they call Kandor saviour. Ray says that he has made a horrible mistake and Quar uses the device that Ray use to regrow them to shrink Ray. As Ray shrinks he says that he can fix this but Baal says no he can’t and kills Ray. Quar preaches about who the people thought that he was mad for his beliefs and destroys the city of Kandor with his heat vision. We then see Carrie walking through the Bat-Cave with Quar narrating saying that he is going to take over the Earth first, but we see that Bruce Wayne isn’t dead ending issue two.

The first two issue are rather well done. The big plus as I said already is that this seems more like a better story than what Dark Knight Strikes Again was and the addition of an additional writer. The art work in whole is also good even with the micro issues. But the only problem that I have with it would be the placement so far for the micro issues since that it does ruin the story telling that the comic already has going since that in issue two the story between Wonder Woman and Lara came in the middle of Carrie escaping from the police. But other than that so far I have found it okay, but we have a six or seven more issues since that I believe that they have extended the run of the series.